Metal-sawing machine



(No Model.)

G. C. LUCAS.

METAL SAWING MAGHlNE. No. 371,466. Patented Oct. 11,1887.

UNTTan STATES PATENT Ottica.

GEORGE C. LUCAS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

lVlETAL-SWING MACHINE.

SPECIPICATIN forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,466, dated @stole-2:11, 1857.

(No model.)

To all whom t may! concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE O. LUCAS, of Cleveland,in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal Sav/ing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the saine.

Uy invention relates to an improved metalsawing machine designed more especially for sawing traekrails cold, and equally adapted to various other purposes of sawing metal bars in which the rails or bars are severed at any desired angle, and the loss of material is reduced to a minimum.

A peculiar curved or inclined slot is made through the forward end of the saw, through which slot the draft pin or bolt passes, by which arrangement the saw is tilted and elevated before and during the back-stroke, and is depressed and held firm during the forward sl roke or cutting movement.

In making frogs and other railroad work it is necessary to cut rails at various angles. Hereto'ore this has usually been done by breaking the rail off rough, and then planing or milling` thc ends to bring it to the desired bevel, such method heilig slow, expensive, and causing a great waste of rail.

\Vith my improved machine a vertical. cut is made through the rail or bar, square or at any desired angle. The severed parts of the rail or bar have, therefore, each a beveled or square end adapted to the work for which they are intended, and this, too, without any waste of the rail or bar, except the trifling waste of the sawkerf.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure is a side elevation of my improved metal-sawing machine. Fig. 2 is a plan, with parts of the feed mechanism removed. Fig. 3 is a side ele- .vation of the saw. Fig. is an end elevation of automatic feed mechanism and cross-head standard.

A represents thebed-plate mounted on suitable legs, a. To the bed-plate are attached standards B, the form thereof in section being shown in Fig. 2. Mounted, respectively,

on the standards are cross-heads C, the latter having adjustable guides C, that may be tightened against'the ways of the standard, so that the cross-heads, while moving free on the standards in a vertical direction, will have no lateral lost motion.

Nuts c', connected with each cross-head, are engaged by screw-rods l). These latter are journaled in the caps B' of the standards, and the screw-rods are intergeared, as shown,with the shaft D, the latter being journaled in suitable boxes, d, connected with the respective standards. A c1ank,tl, or hand-wheel is connected with the shaft D, by means of which the two cross-heads are elevated or depressed in unison. The cross-heads, respectively, embrace the sliding bars E, the latter having beveled edges, and the cross'heads having each a gib, c, for taking up the wear.

F represents the saw. This is made of a plate of steel, usually about fou r inches wide (when new) hy three sixteenths ofan inch thick and two feet long, although these dimensions may be varied at pleasure. The saw has teeth of the variety shown, the front of the teeth being substantially vertical, while the back is inclined to brace the tooth, thus giving a suitable cuttingedge for cutting with the forward movement of the saw. Near the rear end of the saw is made a round hole, f, and near the forward end is made a curved slot, j", shaped substantially as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of the saw operate in vertical slots made in the opposing ends of the respective bars E. A pin or bolt, g, passes laterally through the forward portion of the rear bar, E, and through the holefin the saw, thus pivotally connecting the rear end of the saw with the bar E. In like manner a draft pin or bolt, g', passes through the rear portion o f the forward bar, E, passing also through the slotf. The for ward bar, E, is connected by a pitman, G, adjustably connected in slot h of a crankwheel, H, and such other gearing may be en1- ployed as found necessary-for instance, as shown, for driving the shaft of the machineaccording to the movement of the pulley or other device from which the motive power is supplied. Any suitable clamping device is had at I to hold the rail or bar J firmly in place. W'hen the cuttingtools are employed IOO having teeth of the variety shown, it iswell known that if the teeth be pressed upon the work during the back-stroke of the cuttingtool the cutting-edge of the teeth, having no support in this direction, will be broken or worn off. With the mechanism heretofore described this difficulty is entirely overcome. With the reciprocation of the forward bar, E, caused by the pitman the saw is reciprocated by means of the pin g only after the end play of the pin in the slotj" is taken up at each end of the stroke. When, therefore, the pin g starts forward, it engages the under curved wall of the slotf, by means of which the forward end of the saw is depressed, bringing the saw down upon the work before the saw is started forward. With the reverse movement the pin g engages the upper curved wall of the slot and elevates the saw by tilting it before the saw :is moved rearward. This device, although extremelysimple, is entirely effective, the operator having only to turn the crank d a trifle with each stroke of the saw to feed the latter down upon the work; or, if preferred, suitable mechanism may be had to feed the saw automatically. These saws are cheaply made. Flat bars of steel of suitable widths and thickness, as aforesaid, are cut into lengths, and a quantity of such blanks, without grinding or polishing, are clamped together side by side and the teeth milled in, andthe latter, to create clearance, are afterward slightly upset at their edge.

The holes f and slots f are punched or drilled, after which the saws are tempered and are ready for use. The teeth, when dulled with use, are easily sharpened on an emerywheel. The saws may be worn down to half or perhaps a third of their original width. As the saw is worn narrow, it may be neces sary to block up the rail or bar J from the bedthe rail or bar before the cross-heads collide with the bed-plate.

Of course the slotf might be made in the bar E, and the draft pin or bolt g might be made fast to the forward end of the saw, which would accomplish the same purpose.

1. In a metal-sawing machine, the colnbination, with verticallymoving cross-heads,witl1 mechanism for moving them in unison, of horizontallysliding bars made to reciprocate in the said cross-heads, and a saw extending from one sliding bar to the other and connected with each, substantially as set forth.

2. `The combination,with vertically-moving cross-heads, and laterally moving bars made to reciprocate through the respective cross-heads, of a saw pivotally connected with the rear sliding bar, and a slot in the forward end of the saw, curved, substantially as shown, for receiving the draft piny or bolt connected with the forward sliding bar, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with horizontallymoving bars and suitable mechanism for reciproeating the same, of a saw pivotally connected with the rear bar and connected with the forward bar by means of a draft pin or bolt passing through a slot in the forward end of the' saw, said slot being curved or inclined, substantially as shown, whereby the saw is tilted and respectively elevated and depressed with the rearward and forward movements of the draft pin or bolt, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof l sign this specification, in the presence of two witnesses, this 22d day of January, 1887.

GEORGE C. LUCAS.

Vitnesses: v

Cr-rAs. H. Donnie, ALBERT E. LYNCH. 

